


The Part Where Everything is Ok

by QuixoticRobotics



Category: Atop the Fourth Wall
Genre: AU where everyone is slightly nicer, The Comicrew, except margaret who gets to be angry and bitter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-07-27 21:26:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16227647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuixoticRobotics/pseuds/QuixoticRobotics
Summary: It's not everyday that you and your friends save the world. This fic is about the days when you dont. (an attempt to provide the comicrew fluff this fandom needs)





	1. A Piece of the World is Found

For a moment, there was pure stillness, like reality itself was paused. Everyone attempted to silently process exactly just what happened.

Harvey Finevoice is the one to press play, putting everyone back in motion with an arm gesture and a blunt, no nonsense “Well?”. Everyone turns to look at what warrants such exasperated arm gesturing. What they saw was a disheveled, incredibly confused, utterly exhausted, and startlingly glasses-less 90s Dude

“Is anyone gonna do somethin’?” Harvey continued, answering his own question as he knelt down next to the disoriented teen sprawled out on the floor, feeling around for something. Harvey picked up the pair of glasses and gently handed to 90s Dude. “Here you go, is that whatcha were lookin’ for?” Harvey asked gently as 90s Dude put his glasses on and looked around, attempting to examine his surroundings before facing Harvey and nodding, clearly dazed.  
—————————————————————————————————–  
It didn’t take a lot of prompting for the crew to pitch in. throw pillows were rearranged so that when 90s Dude made it to the couch (with help from Harvey) He instantly collapsed onto a makeshift bed. Someone was always in the room to keep an eye on their exhausted friend, while the rest of the crew went about business as usual, occasionally checking in to see how their friend was doing.  
—————————————————————————————————– 

It had been six days since Linkara had saved the world from The Entity. Margaret, the girl in the magic gun, had been keeping track,since she didn’t really have anything better to do. Margaret had not gotten to help very much during the fight. Which was, frankly, kind of disappointing.

Margaret liked Linkara very much and liked to think herself as an ally in battle, a faithful friend who was always by his side. She wished she’d gotten to take down the stupid outer god her parents had worshiped decided that to hurt her friends.

Well, they didn’t know they were her friends. But she cared for them very much. Even if it was wishful thinking, she liked to hope they’d all care about her too if they could see and hear her. And it had been six days since one of her dearest friends, 90s Dude, had stopped by to visit.

They had a lot of catching up to do. For example, when linkara had fired at the entity she had technically shot 90s Dude. She was worried she’d hurt him.

They had a lot of catching up to do. Ever since Linkara had learned her backstory and shared it with the others, if Linkara left her out somewhere, 90s Dude would talk to her. It had startled her at first but He’d rambled about how he figured she probably got bored. She did, actually, and his cheerful disposition and excitement about what he was talking about was a nice change of pace from daydreams and watching Linkara work. Those bright spots in her days had vanished around a year ago. But a few days later, they came back.

——————————————————————————————————  
Answering exactly who lived with Linkara was a difficult question, that’s answer varied depending on a number of factors, including but not limited to one’s stance on the sentience of robotic creatures, or one’s opinions on a variety of subjects pertaining to hauntings and spectral beings.

However it is inarguable that about a week after the incident with the entity, 90s Dude returned home to Linkara’s apartment and was greeted with open arms. Everyone was curious about the well being of their friend.

Harvey casually asked about how 90s Dude was doing during a conversation about which Pokemon movie was the best, carefully making sure each inquiry could be easily shrugged off. Harvey figured if someone didn’t wanna talk about something, it was for a good reason. As far has we was concerned anything kept unshared was none of his business.

Linkara, on the other hand, had to restrain himself as coming off as intrusive or overbearing. Linkara was the sort of hero who followed his head. He prided himself on this fact. However, his mind was so sharp he tended to overthink things until he was worrying about brainstormed problems that didn’t actually exist.

Throughout the week he’d been restless with questions and concerns. But when the teenager actually stood there in front of him every worried inquiry and morbid curiosity all streamlined into a single “Are you ok?”.

This was an incredibly loaded question with a very complicated answer. Linkara was more than happy to do anything he could to help his young friend work through rough spots obscuring the answer.

And then there was Margaret.  
——————————————————————————————————  
90s Dude was happy to have friends who cared about his well-being. Who wouldn’t be? His friends were awesome! However after all the the fun he had catching up with his very caring friends, there was still one person he needed to catch up with.

90s Dude knew thinking of a gun as his friend was kinda silly. But a lot of things about him were already kinda silly, so it didn’t really matter to him. Besides, there was a person inside this gun! Or maybe the gun was her body? Magic wasn’t really his thing so he wasnt sure. But he figured that if she was a person, she probably got lonely, so he’d gotten into the habit of talking to her.

The conversations were obviously very one-sided. He’d just talk about comics or something cool from the 90s or engineering, he’d just talk about whatever he was exited about at the time. He hoped he didn’t bore his conversation partner too badly. Because honestly right now he just wanted to talk about stuff like normal. He was kind of craving the usual domestic order of things. So he went to visit a friend he hadn’t gotten a chance to speak to yet.  
——————————————————————————————————  
Margaret was delighted to hear the loud, enthusiastic voice of her dear friend.

“Sup Dudette?” he asked. Margaret was so happy, she’d missed being called that. 90s Dude went on to apologize for not having talked to her in such a long time. Margaret ached to apologize for not noticing something was off sooner, or that she couldn’t have been very useful in saving the day. It was hard to stay sad around 90s Dude, his enthusiasm was infectious. she was more that ok with listening him just talk about something, She’d missed just listening.


	2. New Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Margaret and Harvey both start to feel a little more at home without realizing it

Over the course of her short life, Margaret’s exposure to media had been extremely limited. Her parents had kept incredibly strict control of her exposure to the outside world. Because of this, Margaret had no idea what to make of the stranger that her current owner had decided to take in.

Of course Margaret barely had any idea what to make of the bespeckled man in brown hat she’d ended up with, but he certainly made some odd choices. Like taking in a stranger he’d literally found on the side of the road.

The stranger didn’t seem to know what to make of himself either. He seemed awkward and out of place, not helped by his insistence on constantly dressing to the nines. He seemed restless and unsure what to do with himself. Then one day, the man in the brown hat ran errands. Leaving Margaret out in the open, free to observe the strange man in the suit.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
This was not a situation Harvey Finevoice had expected to find himself in. Quite frankly Harvey’s life had become a chain of situations Harvey Finevoice had never expected to find himself in. But, for better or worse, here he was. Mooching off of some kid who honestly thought he wasn’t a lost cause.

Harvey feeling useless wasn’t exactly front page news. But sitting in the house of someone who’d put so much effort into his well-being, doing nothing, was unbearable. He was going to do something  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Margaret wasnt sure she’d expected the man to do, but washing the dishes wasnt it. After the novelty of that choice of action had worn off Margaret began to grow bored. Then she heard the man humming to himself. Soon humming had turned to singing.

The Man’s voice was smooth and deep, carefully gliding up and dipping down. It had a warm sound that Margaret liked, it seemed to have a gentle glow that radiated outward. What the songs were about also caught Margaret’s attention. They sung about the ocean and the stars. they talked about going to space, about seeing lights in endless darkness.

Love was not an emotion Margaret had particularly great experiences with. She’d never gotten old enough for kissing and holding hands like the songs described, and she’d been woefully unlucky when it came to familial love. But these songs made adoring someone and wanting to stay by their side sound so pleasant. Like some kind of cozy adventure.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
By the time Harvey had finished his self assigned chore, he was smiling. He hadn’t meant to start singing. Maybe it was just instinct, maybe he’d just needed something to break the silence of being alone, he wasn’t sure. It’d been so, so long since he’d sung anything, which, you could tell. But that private performance had brought out something inside him that hadn’t been there for a long time.

When Linkara returned home with groceries he wasn’t sure what he was more surprised by, the clean dishes, or the good mood Mr. Finevoice seemed to be in.

As Margaret watched the two men talk, she began to think about how she was starting to like it here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it took all my willpower not to make a mack the knife joke. You're welcome
> 
> also if margaret seems mean thats just because i feel like she probably took awhile to warm up to linkara


	3. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the gang learns a bit more about Eliza's personal life

One afternoon the crew was in the living room, locked in a serious debate about the moral alignments of the various Candyland characters when the door opened. “‘Sup losers!” a voice said. “Oh! Hey Eliza.” Linkara said, looking down at the blue foam lizard who’d just entered the building. Nobody really understood how Eliza could open and close doors. It was best not to question these things.

Much like her creator, Eliza preferred to do her own thing and, while a welcomed member of the crew, she was generally content doing her own thing. Still, Linkara prided himself on taking things into account, especially when it came to his friends, and so he asked “Would you like join us next Friday for movie night?” he asked politely.

In response he received a matter of fact “Can’t.” “What pressing matter do you have to attend to, exactly?” Pollo asked dryly. Eliza proudly responded to her blue buddy by answering “Because I’ve got a date.”

“Wait, What?!” multiple voices rang out, all turning to look at Eliza. “Is it with one of the girls whos number you got at the coffee shop?” Asked 90s Dude. “What?” Linkara asked, his voice cracking slightly”. “Wait, how do you even know that?” Harvey asked, addressing 90s dude.

“It’s not my fault the ladies love me” replied Eliza “also I’m the only person in this room who isn’t banned from the local coffee shop.” Meanwhile 90s dude answered “I dunno, sometimes when I’m helping Linksano in engineering she hangs out up there.” “I would just like to clarify that I have absolutely no idea what is going on” Linksano chimed in

“Wait how are you getting into my spaceship?” Linkara asked Eliza. Sounding personally hurt at the idea of any violation of his spaceship.

“Because this unit teleports her onboard” a voice suddenly announced.

“Nimue?!”

“Confirmed. Also, this unit will also be absent from movie night.”

“Why not?” Linkara legitimately had no idea what the answer might be at this point.

“Because this unit has A Date.”

“Love you babe!” Eliza said to the AI. Nimue’s voice grew softer, as though she were embarrassed by the display of affection. “The sentiment is shared” she said shyly.

After a brief pause, Eliza exited the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ bring your wife and trouble it will never trouble you, make her a member of the comicrew ~
> 
> Did you really think i wouldnt put lesbianism somewhere in this fic


	4. What Ever Happened to Predictability?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Linksano and 90s Dude make a startling discovery about alternate dimensions.

90s Dude and Dr. Linksano were lounging around. Linksano spent most of his time on Comicron 1, but after Linkara had refused to allow him and 90s Dude to bring their one of a kind, custom, improved Creepy Crawlers Workshop onto the ship, they’d been forced to conduct experiments in the house.  
  
It had gone pretty well, Linksano figured. Nothing had caught on fire and no one was genetically fused with gooey homemade insects. A good day of SCIENCE, all and all.  
  
Now the two lab partners were sitting around and eating junk food as reruns of Full House played on TV.  
  
After a shot of the golden gate bridge, the camera showed a shot of a character, who’d turn to face the camera and smile as credits displayed the actor’s name. all while unbelievably cheesy music played in the background. Not far into this, Linksano blurted out _“Wait, what the hell?!”_. “What is it, Dude?” asked 90s Dude, sounding somewhat concerned at his friends confusion.  
  
“Who the hell was that one random white dude?” “Bro, I am going to need you to be a bit more specific”. “That one guy in the intro!” Linksano elaborated. “Uh, do you mean Danny Tanner?“ Asked 90s dude, invested in this mystery. “No.” Linksano answered. “Uncle Jessie?” asked 90s Dude ”No!” replied Linksano, everyone knew which one was Uncle Jessie. “I think you’re thinking of Uncle Joey, Dude.”  
  
“But Uncle Joey isnt played by whoever that was!”  
  
a soothing, robotic voice chimed in “Dave Coulier portrayed the fictional character of Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom Full House”  
  
“who the hell is Dave Coulier?!”  
  
“David Alan Coulier (born September 21, 1959) is an American actor, voice actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist and television host. He is well known for playing Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom Full House and -”  
  
“Er, that was a rhetorical question, Nimue” Linksano said “Thank You though.”  
  
“Your gratitude is greatly appreciated” Nimue said humbly.  
  
“Dude,” 90s Dude said “ what if in your home universe Uncle Joey was just played by a different white guy”. “I guess that does make sense” Linksano said, bitterness creeping into his voice. Linksano still wasn’t over the fact that the periodic table was _juuuuust_ different enough in the universe where he currently resided so that he’d tripped up an attempt to sing The Elements by Tom Lether. Linksano insisted he could sing the song perfectly, and the faulty universe was to blame.  
  
“Aw dude I think this is the episode where D.J sneaks a horse into the house!” 90s Dude said. “Honestly if you can sneak a horse through San Francisco traffic you deserve the damn horse” linksano quipped.  
  
90s Dude, Nimue, and Linksano proceeded to marathon Full House.  
  
Linksano reached the conclusion that although this universe had an inferior periodic table and inferior sitcoms, the company was more than worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [looks up from my laptop and smiles at the camera] 
> 
> btw heres a very funny performance of the elements https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3NOQnsQM Tom Lehrer was a funny, snarky man with a morbid sense of humor, I feel like Linksano would like his stuff


	5. But it Still Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Margaret and Linkara have a nice before bed conversation about relaxing things. Like friendship induced alignment shifts

“Margaret?” Linkara asked into seemingly empty darkness. He was lying in bed, unable to sleep.  
  
“Yeah?” Margaret answered. It had become routine for her and Linkara to have conversations at the end of the day. Sometimes they’d talk about something that was bothering one of them, sometimes they just chatted about something funny that had happened that day.   
  
Margaret adored these conversations, but once Linkara was in his bed, Margaret was safe in the bedside table drawer Linkara had made into a bedroom of sorts for her, and the lights were out, that meant talking was done for the night (unless Linkara had a nightmare and Margaret needed to comfort him)  
   
“You mentioned when you realized you cared about me, you panicked, right?”  
  
That was true. When Linkara first found Margaret, she’d stopped trusting people entirely. But over time she’d warmed up to him. When it hit her how much she’d come to care for her partnerfriend, she had no clue what to do. Despite him knowing of her presence, Margaret had remained silent for quite some time, slowly sorting through her feelings.  
  
“Yeah, why?” That had been a long time ago, back then Margaret never could have imagined talking to Linkara every evening.  
  
“Well, I’ve just been thinking about...”  Linkara felt dumb asking this, but it was too late, he’d sparked Margaret’s interest. “About what?” she asked, her voice making it clear she was ready to keep asking until she got answers.  Linkara sighed. “About Linksano...I don’t know I’ve just been wondering......”  
  
“Wondering _what_?” Margaret asked, eager to hear what he had to say

“Well, I don’t remember us working together on the clone.” Linkara began “ I don’t know what I thought of Linksano or what he thought of me. We could have been friends.”  
  
Margaret was starting to see where Linkara was going with this.  
  
“And honestly, I don’t know that much about Linksano. But he worked for Vyce and that couldn’t have been fun and who knows what other crap he’s been through? So I Just can’t stop thinking about it; do you think he was scared?”  
  
Margaret had already been thinking about this. She held no resentment toward Linksano for what he had done. She’d imagined he must have been scared, growing close to someone isn’t really a good look if you want to seem villainous. And people generally don’t actively aspire to seem villainous unless the multiverse had thrown something pretty bad at them.  
  
She knew from experience. She'd been a vengeful bringer of wrath and destruction before Linkara made her realize there were good people who she was more than willing to fight for.  
  
“I do.” Margaret answered  
  
Linkara rolled over in bed “I feel so bad. I -”  
  
“Don’t” Margaret stopped the guilt fest before it could start.   
  
“You don’t need to feel bad. Everybody sticks around because they feel safe with you.” Her words were blunt and stern, making her statement sound like the most obvious thing in the world  
  
“Then why do I keep scaring people?” Linkara couldn’t help but feel uncertain.  
  
“Because _we_ aren’t used to the amount of kindness _you_ give” Margaret said exasperatedly. “I got scared because loving and looking up to people didn’t have a great history with me. _You_ changed that.” She said. Margaret knew this was something Linkara worried about a lot, so she added a much kinder and less harsh “We all love you.”  
  
“I hadn’t thought about it that way.” Linkara said softly.   
  
“Of course you didn’t, you’re a big dumb dork whos too good at having friends. Now go to sleep, its late o’clock!” Margaret teasingly ordered him.  
  
Linkara chuckled and started to relax. “Goodnight, Margaret.”  
  
“Goodnight, nerd”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> beacon of hope for lonely people who don't believe they're capable of good!Linkara is my favorite brand of Linkara. I've wanted to cram partnerfriends in here from the get go but i couldnt gather enough words together. Honestly i should just write a biography about Margaret. Cheesy chapter title bc im tired and listening to Rebecca Sugar demos bc they sound like lullabies. I feel like the morality topic could be its own fic, but im too tired to write that fic, so i wrote fluff that got deep. sorry

**Author's Note:**

> i will hopefully post more installments of this fic if i can find the nerve and figure out how a03 works. also im just calling him 90s Dude regardless of when the fic is set


End file.
